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But there’s one man who might benefit from a tie most of all: Joe Biden.

A 50-50 Senate is more politics nerd parlor game than realistic outcome this fall. After all, it’s only happened twice. But were the Senate to be divided straight down the middle, it would make Biden the ultimate tie-breaker — a dream come true for a guy who spent 36 years in the institution and a potential opportunity for a VP who hasn’t ruled out running for president.

“He’d like two years of being the deciding vote, back in the cloakroom, in the Senate gym,” said former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), Biden’s longtime chief of staff and still a close friend. “I think he would revel in that.”

Biden still sees himself as a creature of the Senate. He loved his early role as President Barack Obama’s Capitol Hill closer. And while more and more Democrats looking toward 2016 attach themselves to Hillary Clinton, Biden has kept himself in the mix, sounding out the makings of a presidential argument that would meld his years of experience with his connection to the progressive social and economic concerns driving the liberal base today.

Back in the Senate again, Biden could attempt to make himself the deal maker who could rally the Democratic base and, for a wider set of voters, be the man in the spotlight getting things done in Washington.

Senate races often move several at a time in late-campaign waves, but this year is already looking different. To hit a tie, Democrats would need a net loss of five seats, and most of them have already written off the seats in Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia. That leaves two, and between the races they’re facing in Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina, Democrats say losing two seems a pretty safe bet. They’re not counting on pickups in either Kentucky or Georgia, where their prospects are best.

“When you look at the map, it’s totally feasible,” said a national Democratic strategist.

The vice president’s office declined comment on the speculation, or what it might mean for Biden.

For those who know Biden, the prospect is both terrifying and thrilling — terrifying because they doubt that no matter the potential pitfalls, they’d be able to keep him away from the Hill, thrilling because they can’t quite contain the excitement of being able to run for president from the platform of being an active president of the Senate.

Not that Senate Democrats would be all that eager to have him there. Many, Reid included, remain unhappy with deals he reached with McConnell on the Bush tax cuts and others, and he was cut out of talks surrounding last year’s government shutdown.

And an evenly split Senate wouldn’t mean Biden pulling his motorcade up to the Capitol every day. There have been only 244 vice presidential tie-breakers in the entire history of the Senate. The last time the Senate was 50-50, after the 2000 elections, Dick Cheney only cast eight, including the one to give Republicans the majority. (That May, then-Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords left the Republicans to give the Democratic caucus a 51-49 advantage.)